Message architecture for an appliance communications network

ABSTRACT

A message architecture is provided for use in a communications network for an appliance having at least one component and further enabled to communicate information about the at least one component. The message architecture includes first and second identifiers where the first identifier identifies the form of the second identifier and the second identifier identifies at least one component in the appliance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to networks of appliances and to a messagingprotocol for conveying information across appliance networks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A message architecture according to the invention is provided for use ina communications network for an appliance having at least one componentand further enabled to communicate information about the at least onecomponent. The message architecture includes first and secondidentifiers wherein the first identifier identifies the form of thesecond identifier and the second identifier identifies the at least onecomponent.

The first identifier can relate to an identifier of a location, acategory, a supplier, a manufacturer, a schema, a format, amanufacturing location, and/or a product type.

In one aspect, the message architecture can include a third identifierthat is a unique identifier of an appliance from a universe ofappliances. The message architecture can also include a fourthidentifier that is a unique identifier of a manufacturer of theappliance and/or the components.

The components can include a printed circuit board, a motor, anactuator, a valve, software, data, a printed circuit board with amicroprocessor, a software module for controlling a motor, a cycleengine for controlling the cycle of operation of an appliance, a datamodule containing data parameters about the motor allowing the softwaremodule to appropriately parameterize and configure itself for thecontrol of the motor, a data module containing a cycle structure for useby the cycle engine to control the cycle of operation, and/or a datamodule containing data for use by a user interface engine to createscreens, screen content, and the navigation between screens, a datamodule containing media content.

The identifiers can include at least two message elements, and eachmessage element can have a unique meaning. The second identifier caninclude a serial number, model number, component information,manufacturer, supplier, location, cross reference, time of manufacture,date of manufacture, location of manufacture, a software module, afunctionality identifier, replacement part, original part, and/or asoftware module version. In a further aspect of the invention, anappliance has one or more components and is enabled to communicateinformation about the components. The appliance includes a softwarearchitecture configured to use a message architecture comprising firstand second identifiers where the first identifier identifies the form ofthe second identifier and the second identifier identifies the applianceor a component.

The communication can include a command that results in publication ofthe information so that the message architecture enables traceability ofthe appliance and/or the component.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a system comprising an applianceand a communications network in which the invention is operable.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a message structure suitable forthe communications network of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a series of messages between a messagegenerator and a direct smart part in the communications network of FIG.1.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a set appliance model number message ina message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a publish appliance model numbermessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a set appliance serial number messagein a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates an exemplary forking element in thesecond identifier of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a publish appliance serial numbermessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 9 schematically illustrates an exemplary forking element in thesecond identifier of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 schematically illustrates a series of messages between a messagegenerator and a direct smart part in a manner similar to that of FIG. 3.

FIG. 11 schematically illustrates a publish number of physical partsmessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 12 schematically illustrates a set physical part model numbermessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 13 schematically illustrates exemplary forking elements in thesecond identifier of FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 schematically illustrates a set physical part serial numbermessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 15 schematically illustrates a get physical part informationmessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 16 schematically illustrates a publish physical part informationmessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 17 schematically illustrates exemplary forking elements in thesecond identifier of FIG. 16.

FIG. 18 schematically illustrates a series of messages between a messagegenerator and a direct smart part in a manner similar to that of FIGS. 3and 10.

FIG. 19 schematically illustrates a get number of virtual parts messagein a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 20 schematically illustrates a publish number of virtual partsmessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 21 schematically illustrates a get virtual part name message in amessage architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 22 schematically illustrates a publish virtual part name message ina message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 23 schematically illustrates a get virtual part release informationmessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 24 schematically illustrates a publish virtual part releaseinformation message in a message architecture according to theinvention.

FIG. 25 schematically illustrates exemplary forking elements in thesecond identifier of FIG. 24.

FIG. 26 schematically illustrates a get virtual part version informationmessage in a message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 27 schematically illustrates a publish virtual part versioninformation message in a message architecture according to theinvention.

FIG. 28 schematically illustrates a set replacement part flag message ina message architecture according to the invention.

FIG. 28A illustrates an example method of the use of the replacementpart flag in the message of FIG. 28.

FIG. 29 schematically illustrates a method of diagnosing and servicingan appliance according to the invention.

FIG. 30 schematically illustrates a fault tree used in the method ofFIG. 29.

FIG. 31 schematically illustrates a plurality of fault trees used in themethod of FIG. 29.

FIG. 32 schematically illustrates a customized fault tree aggregated inthe method of FIG. 29.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Appliance Communications Network

The environment of the invention includes a messaging protocol and amessage architecture that are implemented on and used to communicateinformation over a communications network for an appliance. Thecontemplated communications network includes both an internal networkwithin the appliance and an external network to which the internalnetwork is connected. The messaging protocol and message architectureenable a type of universal communication approach allowing a componentto query the communications network for and obtain comprehensiveinformation about components associated with the appliance. As a result,the hardware and software of the appliance can be more easily traced,warranties associated with components and with the appliance can be moreeasily managed, and the appliance can be more easily and effectivelyserviced.

The appliance can be any suitable appliance, such as a householdappliance. Examples of household appliances include, but are not limitedto, clothes washing machines, clothes dryers, ovens, dishwashers,refrigerators, freezers, microwave ovens, trash compactors, andcountertop appliances, such as waffle makers, toasters, blenders,mixers, food processors, coffee makers, and the like.

The appliance can be configured to perform a cycle of operation tocomplete a physical domestic operation on an article. Examples of thephysical domestic operations include a food preparation operation, afood preservation operation, a fluid treatment operation, a cleaningoperation, a personal care operation, a fabric treatment operation, anair treatment operation, and a hard surface treatment operation. The airtreatment operation can comprise, for example, air purification, airhumidification, air dehumidification, air heating, and air cooling. Thefood preparation operation can comprise, for example, food cleaning,food chopping, food mixing, food heating, food peeling, and foodcooling. The food preservation operation can comprise, for example, foodcooling, food freezing, and food storage in a specialized atmosphere.The fluid treatment operation can comprise, for example, fluid heating,fluid boiling, fluid cooling, fluid freezing, fluid mixing, fluidwhipping, fluid dispensing, fluid filtering, and fluid separation. Thecleaning operation can comprise, for example, dishwashing, fabricwashing, fabric treatment, fabric drying, hard surface cleaning, hardsurface treatment, hard surface drying, carpet cleaning, carpettreatment, and carpet drying. The personal care operation can comprise,for example, hair treatment, nail treatment, body massaging, teethcleaning, body cleaning, and shaving.

As used herein, the term “component” refers to any single part or acombination of parts, such as those that participate in the operation ofthe appliance or are otherwise associated with the appliance, to whichan identifier can be assigned. Additionally, as the appliance itselfcomprises a combination of parts, the appliance can also be considered acomponent. An identifier is related in some way to the part, combinationof parts, or appliance to which it is assigned and provides meaning in acontext specified by the messaging protocol and the messagearchitecture. The appliance has one or more internal components internalto or comprising the appliance that participate in the operation of theappliance or that are otherwise associated with the appliance. One ormore external components external to the appliance can also participatein the operation of the appliance or otherwise be associated with theappliance. At least one of the components or a combination of thecomponents can be configured to implement and control a cycle comprisingat least one operation.

Each component can include one or more physical parts and/or one or morevirtual parts. Each physical part and each virtual part may also beconsidered a component, and each physical part and virtual part internalto the appliance would thus be considered internal components. Insimilar fashion, each physical part and each virtual part external tothe appliance are external components.

A physical part can comprise one or more physical parts and may or maynot also comprise one or more virtual parts. A virtual part can compriseone or more virtual parts. A part internal to the appliance that is partof a physical part directly connected to the internal network can bereferred to as a direct part. A part internal to the appliance that isnot part of a physical part directly connected to the internal networkcan be referred to as an indirect part. A part external to the applianceis called an external part. A part that is included in another part canbe referred to as a subcomponent. For example, the rotor of a motor canbe considered a subcomponent of the motor, and a subroutine of a programcan be considered a subcomponent of the program.

An indirect part can be coupled to or associated with a direct part in amanner enabling the direct part to communicate messages according to theinventive messaging protocol and message architecture and containinginformation about the indirect part on the communications network. Thedirect part can obtain information about the indirect part in any of avariety of different manners, for example but not limited to viainformation automatically sent to the direct part by the indirect part,via a message containing information about the indirect part andcommunicated to the direct part, via information about the indirect partcommunicated by a user, via information about the indirect partprestored on the direct part, via information communicated by theindirect part to the direct part each time the direct part requests theinformation, via data accessible by the direct or the indirect part, orvia data on the direct part that was stored on the direct part the firsttime that the indirect part communicated information to the direct part.

There are five exemplary types of messaging relationships between adirect part and an indirect part, although a direct part and an indirectpart are not limited to having one of the five exemplary types ofrelationships.

In a first type of messaging relationship, if the direct part isconnected to the indirect part by a network and the direct part includesrouting capabilities, and if both the direct part and indirect partinclude the messaging protocol and message architecture enablingmessaging between the direct part and indirect part according to themessaging protocol and message architecture, the direct part can routemessages communicated on the communications network and associated withthe indirect part to the indirect part, and, in some instances, thedirect part can also route messages from the indirect part forcommunication on the communications network. The direct part can obtaininformation about the indirect part in any of the manners discussedpreviously.

In a second type of messaging relationship, both the direct part andindirect part include the messaging protocol and message architecture,and the direct part can blindly forward all messages communicated on thecommunications network to the indirect part. The direct part can obtaininformation about the indirect part in at least one of the mannersdiscussed previously.

In a third type of messaging relationship, the direct part includes themessaging protocol and message architecture but the indirect part doesnot. In this type of relationship, the direct part can convert messagescommunicated on the communications network into an information formatunderstandable by the indirect part and then send the formattedinformation to the indirect part. The direct part is able to obtaininformation in some form about the indirect part in at least one of themanners discussed previously.

In a fourth type of messaging relationship, the direct part comprisesthe messaging protocol and message architecture and can read informationstored on the indirect part related to the indirect part in order tocommunicate messages containing information about the indirect part onthe communications network. The direct part can either read theinformation about the indirect part each time it communicates a messagecontaining information about the indirect part on the communicationsnetwork, or the direct part can store the information about the indirectpart on the direct part upon reading the information for the first time.

In a fifth type of relationship, the direct part comprises the messagingprotocol and message architecture and the indirect part is completelyunable to communicate any information with the direct part whatsoever.The direct part can be preset with stored information (e.g. contained ina virtual part) relating to the indirect part during the manufacture ofthe part or during the manufacture of the appliance containing the part,or the direct part can obtain information about the indirect partthrough communication with another component connected to thecommunications network, such as a database, or through communicationwith a user, such as via a user interface. Regardless of the method bywhich the information about the indirect part is obtained, the directpart can use the information to act as a proxy for the indirect partusing the messaging protocol and message architecture. The proxying cancomprise the direct part handling all communications related to theindirect part.

In other possible embodiments a communication network utilizing theinvention and not described in detail herein, a first direct part mayhave a proxy-type relationship with a second direct part such that thefirst direct part acts as a proxy for the second direct part. Thisproxy-type relationship between the first direct part and second directpart can be formed in the event that the second direct part is unable toeffectively, thoroughly, or completely communicate information acrossthe communication network. Typically, the second direct part's inabilityto properly communicate information is caused by a problem within thesecond direct part, such as a lack of memory associated with the seconddirect part needed for communicating information, a problem with aparticular version of software being used on the second direct part, orthe like. Another reason for the second direct part's inability toproperly communicate information is that a choice is made by the systemdesigner to have the first direct part proxy for the second direct partso that the first direct part acts as a focal point for messaging withexternal components.

A physical part as defined herein can comprise one or more physicaldevices or objects, such as but not limited to a motor, a printedcircuit board, a valve, a relay, a circuit, a keyboard, a keypad, acircuit, a fastener, a button, a power supply, a fan, a screen, ananalog or digital I/O, a conduit, a cable, a monitor, a speaker, aheater, a connector, or an actuator. Physical parts typically includewiring, wiring harnesses, cables, circuits, or the like forcommunicatively coupling to a network and/or to other physical parts.

Some of the physical parts comprise a controller and are referred toherein as “smart parts.” A controller can comprise a microprocessormounted on a printed circuit board. The controller can be associatedwith at least one memory, which may or may not be physically included onthe controller so long as the controller can access the memory. In onepossible embodiment, the controller can be associated with a firstmemory physically included thereon. The controller can also beassociated with a second memory physically included on a secondcontroller and communicatively coupled to the first controller via thecommunications network 10. Some of the physical parts do not comprise acontroller and are referred to herein as “dumb parts.” A dumb part canbe controlled by a controller associated with a smart part that iselectrically or mechanically coupled to the dumb part. Typically, thesmart parts cooperate to control the operation of all of the componentsin the appliance to implement an operation or cycle of operation for theappliance either directly or indirectly through other components.

For components comprising multiple parts, a controller associated with asmart part of the component can be used to control the other parts. Ifthe component comprises multiple smart parts, the controllers associatedwith the multiple smart parts can cooperate to control the component.For example, a particular controller designated as a main or primarycontroller for the component can communicate and negotiate with othersecondary controllers, which can be associated with different smartparts of the component, to control the component accordingly. This canbe accomplished via a master-slave relationship between the primarycontroller and the secondary controller(s).

A virtual part as defined herein can comprise one or more non-physicaldevices or objects, such as but not limited to software and data.Virtual parts can be stored in a memory associated with at least onecontroller. For the purposes of describing the invention, virtual partscan be either software modules or data modules, which are portions ofsoftware and data, respectively. The portions of software forming eachsoftware module share a common purpose or functionality that can beassociated with the software module. The portions of data forming eachdata module relate to the same identifier, information, attribute, part,appliance, or the like that can be associated with the data module.

As a non-limiting example, a software module can comprise a purpose, afunctionality, system software, a program, an algorithm, a command orset of commands, a software architecture or portion thereof, a messagingprotocol, a message architecture, a message generator, an instruction,an application, a driver, a translator, a diagnostic tool, a debuggingtool, an operating system, a server, a utility, a database, a graphicuser interface, a program, a procedure, an application, system software,testware, firmware, or middleware.

A data module can comprise any identifiers, information, attributes orother data associated with the appliance, with a particular part orgroup of parts, with the operation of the appliance or part, orotherwise associated with the appliance, part, or group of parts. As anon-limiting example, data modules can comprise identifiers,information, or attributes relating to parts and appliances associatedwith or comprising a name of a part, a name of an appliance, a name of agroup of parts, a model number, a serial number, characteristics relatedto a model number, characteristics related to a serial number, afunction, a message, a message element, a format of a data module, aformat of an identifier, a format of a message element, an identifierindicative of whether an associated part is an original part or areplacement part, routing information, a source associated with anappliance, a source associated with a part, a manufacturer of a part orappliance (e.g. name or location), a supplier of a part or appliance of(e.g. name or location), a cross reference, a time of manufacture, adate of manufacture, a region, a business unit, a company, a schema, acontrol scheme, fault tree information, symptoms of various faults in apart or appliance, fault trees corresponding to various symptoms, faulttree entry points corresponding to various symptoms, priorities orseverities of different symptoms, an error code, a fault code,diagnostic information, defect information, a defect function, recallinformation, replacement information, repair information, defaultsettings, custom settings, user profiles, user input (e.g. settings,descriptions, notes, or other information input by a user), termsassociated with user input, an event log, a usage history, a record,media (e.g. images, audio, or video), release information, database nameor type (e.g. a manufacturer database, a service organization database,or a supplier database), database access information (e.g. a URL linkedto a database, a database location, a database primary key, databasecontent), media, a variable, a variable value, a parameter, a parametervalue, an address, a link, a pointer, relationships or associations withother parts or appliances, a cycle of operation, information relating toa forking element, a material (i.e. a material used to construct a partor appliance), a class, an instance, a generation (e.g. a lot or batchof parts or appliance), a version, a cost or price, a manual,instructions, specifications, or a form.

Data modules can also associate various identifiers, information, andattributes with one another. For example, within a data module ormultiple data modules, a particular material may be associated with aparticular part or appliance, or with a particular generation of partsor appliances. In another example, a particular material, part, orappliance may be associated with a particular time, cost, ormanufacturer, or with particular replacement information.

Each data module can be associated with one or more software modules. Adata module can contain data of information used to form, parameterize,construct, arrange, control, operate, and use software modules. Forexample, a software module can be a cycle engine for effecting and/orcontrolling a cycle of operation of the appliance, and an associateddata module can contain a cycle structure including operationalinstructions and parameters for use by the cycle engine to execute andcontrol the cycle of operation of the appliance. In another example, asoftware module in the form of a user interface program for managing adisplay of the user interface can be associated with a data modulecontaining data enabling the user interface program to control thedisplay and creation of certain screens and screen content, thenavigation between screens, and the presentation of media content. Themedia content can be used in communication with a user. In yet anotherexample, a data module can comprise data parameters associated with amotor, and a software module of a motor controller can use the datamodule to appropriately parameterize and configure itself for thecontrol of the motor. Additional examples of data modules for use bysoftware modules include but are not limited to tuning constants ofalgorithms, machine parameters, user interface preferences, and builderinstructions for software.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, an illustrative messaging protocol and messagearchitecture can be implemented on and used to communicate informationover a communications network 10 comprising an internal network 14 of anappliance 12 and an external network 18 connected to both the internalnetwork 14 and to an accessory 16. The appliance 12 is configured toperform an operation on a physical article, such as clothing or food,using a resource such as water, temperature-controlled air (hot orcold), steam, gas, electricity, and the like. The resource is typicallysupplied to the appliance 12 by a resource conveyance (not shown), suchas a conduit, wire, inlet, and the like. A plurality of internalcomponents of the appliance can be communicatively coupled to oneanother by the internal network 14. One or more external componentscomprising the accessory 16 can be communicatively coupled to theinternal network 14 via the external network 18. The internal network 14and external network 18 can include any well-known interconnectingconduits, wiring and/or harnesses, or wireless systems suitable forinterconnecting the internal components of the appliance 12 and forinterconnecting the external components of the accessory 16,respectively, in a manner enabling the communication of messages acrossthe communication network 10.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the messagingprotocol and message architecture described herein can be implementedand used on any suitable communications network 10, and that theillustrative example provided herein is simply one example of a suitablecommunications network 10. One example of an internal network 14suitable for use in the appliance 12 is the WIDE network, created byWhirlpool, Inc. The external network 18 can be any type of networksuitable for the purposes described herein. Types of networks includebut are not limited to an RS-232 serial network, various forms ofwireless networks (e.g. Zigbee or Wi-Fi), a USB connection-basednetwork, or a wired Ethernet network. The messaging protocol and messagearchitecture expands the communication ability of the appliance 12 byeffectively creating an open network such that external components on anexternal network 18, such as the accessory 16, can also use themessaging protocol and message architecture to communicate across theinternal network 14 via a connection to the internal network 14.

The appliance 12 comprises a plurality of internal components includinga first direct smart part 20, a second direct smart part 22, and a thirddirect smart part 24. The direct smart parts 20, 22, 24 can comprise anyelectronic, electrothermal, and/or electromechanical physical parts thatcollectively form each direct smart part 20, 22, 24. Direct smart part20, for example, can comprise a user interface, a keypad, and a displayfor interacting with a user and receiving user input. Each of the directsmart parts 20, 22, 24 at least comprises a part or parts (not shown),such as electrical circuitry, one or more cables, a wiring harness,and/or a wireless connection, enabling the coupling of the various partswithin each direct smart part 20, 22, 24 to one another and alsoenabling the communicative coupling of each direct smart part 20, 22, 24to the internal network 14.

At least one of the direct smart parts 20, 22, 24 can communicate acrossthe internal network 14 using the inventive messaging protocol andmessage architecture, which can be enabled or specified by a particularsoftware module.

Each direct smart part 20, 22, 24 further comprises a controller 30, 32,34, respectively, that is communicatively coupled to the internalnetwork 14 in the manner discussed above. The controllers 30, 32, 34 caneach comprise a conventional microprocessor on a printed circuit board.Each of the controllers 30, 32, 34 can include common parts, such as amemory 40, 42, 44, respectively, digital and/or analog inputs and/oroutputs (not shown), and connections to various sensors and/or actuators(such as actuator 62) internal or external to the direct smart parts 20,22, 24 for affecting various aspects of the operation of the directsmart parts 20, 22, 24, other parts, and/or the appliance 12.Optionally, the first direct smart part 20 can further comprise aninternal connector 46 that can be configured to enable the coupling ofthe internal network 14 and the external network 18 as will be discussedin more detail hereinafter.

The appliance 12 further comprises an indirect dumb part 48, a firstindirect smart part 50, and a second indirect smart part 52. Theindirect dumb part 48 is electrically coupled to the second direct smartpart 22 by a conventional wire 54. The first indirect smart part 50 iscommunicatively coupled to the second direct smart part 22 by aconventional cable 56. The communications network 10 can furthercomprise a secondary internal network 60 for communicatively couplingthe second indirect smart part 52 of the appliance 12 to the thirddirect smart part 24. The secondary internal network 60 can be anywell-known interconnecting conduit, wiring and/or harness, or wirelesssystem suitable for communicatively coupling the second indirect smartpart 52 and the third direct smart part 24. The secondary internalnetwork 60 can be similar to the internal network 14.

The indirect dumb part 48 can comprise any electronic, electrothermal,electromechanical physical parts that collectively form the indirectdumb part 48, such as an actuator 62. However, the indirect dumb part 48does not comprise a controller. The indirect dumb part 48 furthercomprises at least a part or parts (not shown), such as electricalcircuitry or wiring, that electromechanically couples the actuator 62 toany other parts that may be present on the indirect smart part 48 andalso to the wire 54. The wire 54 electromechanically connects theactuator 62 to the controller 32 of the second direct smart part 22.

The first indirect smart part 50 and second indirect smart part 52 aresubstantially similar to the direct smart parts 20, 22, 24 except thatthe indirect smart parts 50, 52 are not directly connected to theinternal network 14. The indirect smart parts 50, 52 can comprise anyelectronic, electrothermal, and/or electromechanical physical parts thatcollectively form each indirect smart part 50, 52. Each of the indirectsmart parts 50, 52 at least comprises a part or parts (not shown), suchas electrical circuitry, one or more cables, a wiring harness, and/or awireless connection, enabling the coupling of the various parts withineach indirect smart part 50, 52 to one another and also enabling thecommunicative coupling of the indirect smart parts 50, 52 to the cable56 and to the secondary internal network 60, respectively.

Each of the indirect smart parts 50, 52 further comprises a respectivecontroller 64, 66 similar to the controllers 30, 32, 34. The controllers64, 66 are communicatively coupled to the second direct smart part 22and to the third direct smart part 24 in the manners discussed above.The controllers 64, 66 can each comprise a conventional microprocessoron a printed circuit board. Each of the controllers 64, 66 can includecommon parts, such as a memory 70, 72 respectively, digital and/oranalog inputs and/or outputs (not shown), and connections to varioussensors and/or actuators (such as actuator 62) internal or external tothe indirect smart parts 50, 52 for affecting various aspects of theoperation of the indirect smart parts 50, 52, other parts, and/or theappliance 12.

The accessory 16 can be communicatively coupled to the external network18 and at the same time to the internal network 14 via the externalnetwork 18. The accessory 16 can be remote from the appliance 12. Theaccessory 16 can comprise one or more external components (not shown)contributing to the functionality of the accessory 16, such as adisplay, speakers, a touch screen, a scanner wand, or a mechanical partused for servicing and diagnostic purposes. Examples of accessories 16for use with the invention include but are not limited to a personalcomputer, a device for uploading and/or editing new content for theappliance 12 such as a cycle of operation thereof, a media display, amonitor, a meter, a portable database, a source of information about acomponent on the communications network 10, a service device, a factorytesting application, a diagnostic application, a field test application,an interface to a connected home environment, or a graphical userinterface. The connection of the accessory 16 to the external network18, whether adjacent to or remote from the appliance 12, enablesvalue-added applications to communicate with the appliance 12. Someexamples of value-added applications include but are not limited to anautomated factory test, energy management applications, engineeringdevelopment tools, appliance service and diagnostic tool, electroniccontrols manufacturing functional verification testing, consumerapplications, and the like.

The accessory 16 comprises at least one external smart part 76. Theexternal smart part 76 is substantially similar to the direct smartparts 20, 22, 24 except that the external smart part 76 is connecteddirectly to the external network 18 and not the internal network 14. Theexternal smart part 76 can comprise any electronic, electrothermal,and/or electromechanical physical parts that collectively form theexternal smart part 76. The external smart part 76 at least comprises apart or parts (not shown), such as electrical circuitry, one or morecables, a wiring harness, and/or a wireless connection, enabling thecoupling of the various parts within the external smart part 76 to oneanother and also enabling the communicative coupling of the externalsmart part 76 to the external network 18.

The external smart part 76 further comprises a controller 80 similar tothe controllers 30, 32, 34, 64, and 66. The controller 80 iscommunicatively coupled to the external network 18 in the mannerdiscussed above. The controller 80 can comprise a conventionalmicroprocessor on a printed circuit board. The controller 80 can includecommon parts, such as a memory 82, digital and/or analog inputs and/oroutputs (not shown), and connections to various sensors and/or actuators(such as actuator 62) internal or external to the external smart part 76for affecting various aspects of the operation of the external smartpart 76, other parts, and/or the appliance 12.

The appliance 12 can further comprise the internal connector 46, anexternal connector 86, and a network interface device 88 or somecombination thereof for communicatively coupling the internal network 14to the external network 18 to enable the communication of informationbetween at least one internal component of the appliance 12 and at leastone external component of the accessory 16. The internal connector 46,the external connector 86, or both connectors 46, 86 can be included onthe appliance 12. The particular embodiment of the communicationsnetwork 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes both an internal connector 46 and anexternal connector 86 but employs the external connector 86. Theconnectors 46, 86 can comprise physical interfaces providing access andconnection to the internal network 14. For example, the connectors 46,86 can accommodate an extension of the internal network 14 externally ofthe appliance 12. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the internalnetwork 14 extends through the external connector 86 and communicativelycouples to the network interface device 88, which is communicativelycoupled to the external network 18. Typically, information will becommunicated across the internal network 14, network interface device88, and external network 18 between one or more direct smart parts 20,22, 24 and the external smart part 76.

The connectors 46, 86 can comprise physical interfaces configured toprovide access to the internal network 14 in a wired or wireless manner.For example, the connectors 46, 86 can comprise ports connected to theinternal network 14 and configured to receive a wired or wirelesscomponent that effectively extends the internal network 14 somewhatexternally from the appliance 12 for connection to the network interfacedevice 88. Adapters (not shown) can be used with the connectors 46, 86to provide connection to a variety of different types of networks and/orcomponents.

The internal connector 46 is physically coupled to or physically part ofan internal component of the appliance 12, such as the first directsmart part 20. The internal connector 46 can be physically connected tothe part or parts within the first direct smart part 20 that couple thevarious parts within the first direct smart part 20 to the internalnetwork 14, which will result in the indirect coupling of the internalconnector 46 to the internal network 14 through the first direct smartpart 20. The internal connector 46 can be accessed via the opening of alid, a service door, or the like (not shown) included on the appliance12. In other possible embodiments, the internal connector 46 can bephysically coupled directly to the internal network 14.

The external connector 86 is similar in structure and function to theinternal connector 46 but is accessible at an exterior of the appliance12. The external connector 86 can be physically coupled directly to theinternal network 14. In other possible embodiments, the externalconnector 86 can be physically coupled to or physically part of aninternal component of the appliance 12 as long as the external connector86 is still openly accessible at an exterior of the appliance 12.

The network interface device 88 is configured to communicatively couplethe internal network 14 and the external network 18, which are differenttypes of networks in the particular embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1.The network interface device 88 can incorporate bridging capabilitiesfor enabling the transmission of messages between the internal network14 and the external network 18. The network interface device 88 canfurther comprise additional functionalities, such as but not limited tomessage propagation and physical layer conversion capabilities.

A number of other possible arrangements of the internal network 14,connectors 46, 86, network interface device 88, and external network 18of the communication network 10 that are different from the exemplaryarrangement illustrated in FIG. 1 can also benefit from the messagingprotocol and message architecture described herein. In a first possiblearrangement, the network interface device 88 and external network 18 canbe incorporated into the accessory 16, which can enable the internalnetwork 14 to extend through the connector 46, 86 and connect directlyto the accessory 16. In a second possible arrangement, the networkinterface device 88 can be incorporated into one or both of theconnectors 46, 86, which can enable the external network 18 to coupledirectly to one of the connectors 46, 86.

The messaging protocol and message architecture described herein can beenabled and specified within a software architecture. The messagingprotocol is a standard procedure for regulating transmission of messageshaving a structure corresponding to the message architecture betweencomponents connected to the communications network 10. The messagingprotocol and message architecture can be implemented on and used tocommunicate information over the communications network 10 using thesoftware architecture. The software architecture can be any suitablesoftware architecture that can incorporate the inventive messagingprotocol and message architecture so as to enable communication betweenat least two components connected to the communications network 10according to the messaging protocol and message architecture. An exampleof suitable software architecture is disclosed in InternationalApplication No. PCT/US2006/022420, titled “SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE SYSTEMAND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATION WITH, AND MANAGEMENT OF, AT LEAST ONECOMPONENT WITHIN A HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE,” filed Jun. 8, 2006, andpublished in document WO2006135726 on Dec. 21, 2006, the entiredisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. All of thecommunications between components described in this application can beimplemented by the software and network structures disclosed therein.

The software architecture can comprise a plurality of different softwaremodules, each of which can have a different functionality. Variouscombinations of the software modules or all of the software modules canreside on each part. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a core softwaremodule 100, an additional module 102, and an auxiliary module 104together comprise the full software architecture and the full inventivemessaging protocol and message architecture. The core software module100 comprises a core software architecture including a corefunctionality of the messaging protocol and message architecture hereindescribed that can be implemented on a component connected to thecommunications network 10 to expand the communication ability of theappliance 12. Typically, the core software module 100 resides on all ofthe direct smart parts 20, 22, 24. At least one of the direct smartparts 20, 22, 24 also includes one or more other software modules 102,104 that, with the core software module 100, comprise a full softwarearchitecture fully capable of utilizing the messaging protocol andmessage architecture described below. The direct smart part 20, 22, 24can function as an appliance controller. The additional software module102 can comprise any number of functionalities contained within thesoftware architecture. The auxiliary software module 104 can comprise aremaining portion of the software architecture not comprised by the coresoftware module 100 or additional module 102. A plurality of datamodules may or may not comprise data or information associated with eachsoftware module 100, 102, 104, the software architecture, or theinventive messaging protocol and message architecture.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, each of the smart parts 20, 22, 24,50, 52, 76 includes a respective memory 40, 42, 44, 70, 72, 82configured to store one or more of the software modules 100, 102, 104and/or one or more of a plurality of data modules 110. Typically, atleast the direct smart parts 20, 22, 24 include at least the coresoftware module 100 and as a result can form a node on the internalnetwork 14 of the communications network 10 that can communicate withthe other nodes on the communications network 10 and that functions as aclient with respect to the other nodes. Similarly, those externalcomponents with at least the core software module 100 can form a node onthe external network 18 of the communications network 10 that cancommunicate with the other nodes on the communications network 10 andthat acts as a client with respect to the other nodes. In this specificexample, each memory 40, 42, 44, 70, 72, 82 stores the core softwaremodule 100, an additional module 102, and one or more of a plurality ofdata modules 110.

The memory 40 associated with the first direct smart part 20 furtherincludes the auxiliary software module 104. In combination with the coresoftware module 100 and the additional software module 102 storedthereon, the auxiliary software module 104 comprises a softwarearchitecture configured to utilize the full messaging protocol andmessage architecture described below. The direct smart part 20 thusincludes software modules 100, 102, 104 that enable both the fullsoftware architecture and the full messaging protocol and messagearchitecture, thereby enabling the direct smart part 20 to function as amain or appliance controller. The appliance controller is configured toimplement and control a cycle comprising at least one operation bygoverning the operation of the other internal components of theappliance 12. For example, in order to perform a drying cycle ofoperation, the appliance controller can send one or more messagescontaining operational parameters and instructions to the other internalcomponents, and the other internal components can operate accordingly.

In the particular embodiment described herein, direct smart part 20functions as the appliance controller and can comprise a user interface(not shown). In other possible embodiments, none of the internalcomponents can singularly function as an appliance controller; rather,the internal components cooperate and negotiate parameters andinstructions amongst themselves in order to control a cycle of operationof the appliance 12.

In other possible embodiments of the invention, the controllers 30, 32,34, 64, 66, 82 of the smart parts 20, 22, 24, 50, 52, 76 can worktogether to control the operation of the appliance 12 without any one ofthe controllers 30, 32, 34, 64, 66, 82 functioning as a main controller.Regardless of the configuration, any smart part 20, 22, 24, 50, 52, 76with the core software module 100 can function as a client with respectto the other smart parts 20, 22, 24, 50, 52, 76.

One or more of the controllers 30, 32, 34. 64, 66, 80 can becommunicatively coupled to an additional memory, which can comprise anymemory other than its associated memory 40, 42, 44, 70, 72, 82,respectively. The additional memory can be internal or external to theappliance 12. The additional memory can be the memory 40, 42, 44, 70,72, 82 associated with another controller 30, 32, 34, 64, 66, 80,respectively. For example, one or more of the controllers 30, 32, 34,64, 66, 80 can be configured for access to an additional memory locatedon or communicatively coupled to its respective smart part 20, 22, 24,50, 52, 76.

As a second example of the use of an additional memory, the appliance 12can include a port (not shown) communicatively coupled to one of thedirect smart parts 20, 22, 24 or to the internal network 14 andconfigured to receive an auxiliary flash memory (not shown). In theevent that a controller (not shown) does not include a memory thereon,the controller can still operate properly if provided access to asuitable memory in the manner described above.

In another possible embodiment of the invention, the core softwaremodule 100 may reside only on the memories 40, 42, 44 of the directsmart parts 20, 22, 24 and on the memory 82 of the external smart part76. In this scenario, the second direct smart part 22 can function as aproxy and have a proxy-type relationship with the first indirect smartpart 50. This proxy-type relationship between the second direct smartpart 22 and the first indirect smart part 50 can be formed because thefirst indirect smart part 50 is not connected to the internal network 14and is therefore unable to communicate information across the internalnetwork 14. The first indirect smart 50 is instead connected to cable56, which is connected to the second direct smart part 22 in the eventthat the first indirect smart part 50 is unable to effectively,thoroughly, or completely communicate information across thecommunication network 10 in an independent manner.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the memory 40, 42, 44, 70, 72, 82 of eachcontroller 30, 32, 34, 64, 66, 80, respectively, can be configured tostore one or more software modules, one or more data modules, andvarious combinations thereof such as the core software module 100,additional modules 102, and data modules 110. The core software module100 is typically stored on the respective memory 40, 42, 44, 70, 72, 82of every controller 30, 32, 34, 64, 66, 80. In other possibleembodiments, the core software module 100 may not be stored on all ofthe memories 40, 42, 44, 70, 72, 82 but is stored at least on one of thememories 40, 42, 44 on the first direct smart part 20, second directsmart part 22, and third direct smart part 24, respectively.

The messaging protocol establishes a convention for regulating messagetransmission among components connected to the communications network10. The messaging protocol typically includes rules and associations,and also is predicated on the message architecture described herein.However, those components not having the core software architecturecannot communicate using the messaging protocol. A bridge can be used tocommunicatively couple components lacking the core software architectureto the communications network, if necessary. The bridge effectivelytranslates the components' protocol into the inventive messagingprotocol so that components without the core software architecture cancommunicate with other components on the communications network.

If a component on the communications network 10 is not enabled tocommunicate information over the communications network 10 using themessaging protocol and message architecture herein described, a bridgecan be used to communicatively couple the component to thecommunications network 10. A messaging protocol is a standard procedurefor regulating message transmission between components connected to thecommunications network 10; however, those components not having accessto a portion of software architecture configured to enable communicationusing the messaging protocol and message architecture herein describedcannot communicate in the described messaging protocol and messagearchitecture. A bridge can be used to communicatively couple anycomponents lacking the core software architecture to the communicationsnetwork 10, if necessary. The bridge effectively translates thecomponents' protocol into the messaging protocol herein described sothat components without the core software architecture can communicatewith other components on the communications network 10.

If a component on the communications network 10 is not enabled tocommunicate information over the communications network 10, theinvention contemplates another means of obtaining information about thecomponent, even if the component is not known on the network. Assumethat a first component, such as one of the smart parts 20, 22, 24, is incommunication with the network 10, and that a second component, such asthe indirect dumb part 48, or one of the indirect smart parts 50, 52 isnot. The first component is configured to communicate serviceinformation related to the second component over the internalcommunications network 10. The service information will include one ormore identifiers, such as those described below in the message protocoland architecture. One or more of the software modules 100, 102, 104 mayhave or may be able to retrieve the service information. At a minimum,the software architecture is configured to set up a count loopresponsive to queries received by the respective smart part.

Thus, for example, the smart part 22 is configured to communicate thenumber of other parts 48, 50 for which it is configured to communicateservice information. The smart part 22 can be responsive in subsequentmessages to queries about each of the other parts 48, 50 arising from acount loop based on the number communicated. The smart part 22 can beresponsive in subsequent messages to queries based on an indexcorrelating to the count loop. In this manner, the inquirer can obtaininformation about one of the other parts 48, 50 knowing only an indexparameter associated with the part inquired about, even if the part isunknown. This facility is especially useful in diagnosing components ofan appliance.

The same structure can be employed to communicate information aboutsubcomponents related to the second component. In this case, the smartpart 22 can be responsive in subsequent messages to queries about eachof the subcomponents arising from a second count loop based on thenumber. In other words, nested count loops and associated indices willbe enable full communication about all components and subcomponents inan appliance, whether known or not, so long as some smart part cancommunicate or proxy for them. Here, an inquirer can obtain informationabout a subcomponent knowing only an index parameter associated with thesubcomponent. In other words, the smart part 22 can communicate thenumber of other parts for which it will respond. This enables theinquirer to set up a count loop and commence inquiries by iterating aloop corresponding to the number of parts and including the currentcount or index within the loop in the form of an identifier or partnumber corresponding to the indirect parts in the inquiries. In responseto the inquiries, meaningful service information can be sent from thesmart part 22 about the each of the indirect parts 48, 50, including thecurrent count or index, which enables the inquirer to bind informationabout each of the indirect parts 48, 50 based on the current count orindex. For example, the smart part 22 may respond to a first inquiryrequest for a physical part serial number for a part corresponding to acurrent count or index of 2 with a message including a physical partserial number of the indirect part 48 and an index of 2. Subsequently,the smart part 22 may respond to a second inquiry request for the numberof virtual parts associated with an indirect part corresponding to thecurrent count or index of 2 with a message including the current countor index of 2 and another value indicating the number of virtual partson indirect part 48. In the case, the inquirer can assemble informationfrom a plurality of messages about the an another part which is anunknown part with respect to the internal network 14 using the currentcount or index to relate information from plurality of messages to eachpart to which the message relates.

The same count loop technique can be applied to the situation where thesecond component is a subcomponent of the first component. The firstcomponent can be responsive in subsequent messages to queries about eachof the subcomponents arising from a count loop based on the number.

In any case, the first component is in a position to communicate theservice information to a client. The service information can be includedin one or more data modules 110. The service information can includeserial number, model number, component information, manufacturer,supplier, location, cross reference, time of manufacture, date ofmanufacture, location of manufacture, a software module, a functionalityidentifier, replacement part, original part, and software moduleversion, serial number, model number, part number, manufacturer,supplier, location, cross reference, time of manufacture, data ofmanufacture, place of manufacture, a software module, a functionalityidentifier, software version, attributes of a particular component,attributes of particular material used in a component, attributes of acomponent type, attributes of material type used in a component,information associating material or component with a ‘lot’ or batch,information associating material or components with time, a location, orcost and replacement information, and/or any other information or datathat can be included in a data module 110 as described previouslyherein.

The first component can communicate with the second component over anetwork other than the internal network 14 of the appliance. As well,the service information related to the second component can actually beincluded in the first component. The service information related to thesecond component can also be in a memory accessible by the firstcomponent.

If the component is a virtual part, relevant examples include a firstsoftware module for controlling a motor, a data module containing dataparameters about the motor allowing the first software module toappropriately parameterize and configure itself for the control of themotor, a cycle engine for controlling the cycle of operation of anappliance, a data module containing a cycle structure for use by thecycle engine to control the cycle of operation, a data module containingdata for use by a user interface engine to create screens, screencontent, and the navigation between screens, and/or a data modulecontaining media content which can be used in communication with a user.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, all of the directsmart parts 20, 22, 24 can communicate messages across the internalnetwork 14 using the messaging protocol and message architecture hereindescribed. In other possible embodiments of the invention, as few as oneof the direct smart parts 20, 22, 24 coupled to the internal network 14can communicate messages across the internal network 14 using themessaging protocol and message architecture herein described and may actas a proxy for the remaining direct smart parts 20, 22, 24.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the messaging protocol and message architectureherein described can be used to generate messages performing multiplefunctions. Those functions are identifiable by a message structure of anexemplary message 120 containing a function identifier 122 and anargument 124 for each identifier. For example, one function can relateto identifying each of the components, while another function can relateto identifying capabilities or functions of the identified components.Yet another exemplary function is to identify the status of thecomponents. The arguments will typically include valid values associatedwith the respective function identifiers. In this way, the messagingprotocol and message architecture can be used to inform all of thedirect smart parts 20, 22, 24 on the internal network 14 and/or at leastone indirect smart part 50, 52, and/or at least one external smart part76 of the presence, capabilities, and status of other direct parts 20,22, 24, indirect parts 48, 50, 52, and/or external parts. The argumentsof messages not intended to convey information can include standarddefault, null, or void values. Any messages generated in accordance withthe messaging protocol will have a structure generally similar to thatof the exemplary message 120.

The messaging protocol and message architecture herein described enablesthe generation of at least one message used to communicationinformation. A message generator for generating messages, such asmessage generator 130 shown in FIGS. 3, 10, and 18, can be any objectcapable of generating a message, such as a software module, a controlleron a smart part, an accessory, or a component. One possible messagegenerator is a user interface. The messages can be transmitted forbi-directional communication between smart parts. Messages can bebroadcast to all nodes, such as the direct smart parts 20, 22, 24,external smart part 76, and/or any other part enabled to communicateover the communications network 10 or sent out a set number of timesaccording to the number of nodes, such as by using the aforementionedcount loop. A discovery process will typically occur prior to thetransmission of messages according to the described messaging protocoland message architecture in order to discover the number of nodes on thecommunications network 10 and, potentially, additional information aboutthe nodes.

Looking again at FIG. 1, the communicated information can include anynumber or combination of data modules 110, examples of which werediscussed earlier. The data modules 110 in the memory of each directsmart part 22, 24 containing information about each indirect part 50, 52connected thereto can be set during manufacture of the appliance orobtained from the indirect parts a first time they are needed and thensaved for subsequent use. The obtaining the first time can be part of adiscovery process. Alternatively, the data modules 110 containinginformation about each indirect smart 50 52 part can be retrieved inreal time each time a request, such as a get message (see below), isreceived by the direct smart part. In scenarios where a dumb part cannotcommunicate information, such data modules 110 can be set in the memoryof the smart part serving as a proxy for the dumb part. In thisparticular example, information about the indirect dumb part 48 can beincluded in at least one data module 110 saved in the memory 42 of thedirect smart part 22 or another smart part 20, 24, 50, 52 on theappliance network during manufacture of the appliance 12 because theindirect dumb part 48 is not enabled to communicate information. Inother possible embodiments, data modules 110 including information abouta dumb part can be obtained by a smart part connected thereto viaaccessing a byte on a digital circuit or a memory on the dumb part.

Messaging Protocol and Message Architecture

FIGS. 3-28A illustrate a messaging protocol and message architecturethat facilitates communication between interconnected components/partsof the appliance 12 as well as with an external client or accessory 16,such as a diagnostic tool or an appliance servicer. In general, themessage architecture comprises a first identifier which is essentiallymeta data to identify a second identifier within the messagearchitecture. For example, the first identifier could be a value chosenfrom set of values which identifies a particular model number structurefor an appliance model number that would comprise the second identifier.The message architecture is preferably flexible to comprise additionalidentifiers as needed. For example, a third identifier could be providedwhich cooperates with the second identifier (model number) to append aserial number identifier to the second identifier. If the secondidentifier comprises an appliance model number, and the third identifiercomprises an appliance serial number, the cooperation of the first,second and third identifiers could identify a specific appliance withina universe of appliances manufactured by or for a specific manufacture.Further, the message architecture described herein is additionallyflexible to provide for a fourth identifier which could identifyadditional information with respect to a specific manufacturedappliance, such as in the example described herein, a fourth identifiercould comprise manufacturer information which would identify whichparticular manufacturer and/or manufacturing location produced theparticular appliance having the model number defined in the secondidentifier in the serial number defined in the third identifier. In oneexample, these four identifiers could uniquely identify each applianceever manufactured. In a second example, the second, third, and forthidentifiers could uniquely identify each appliance ever manufactured.

The messaging protocol and message architecture described hereinpreferably has identifiers which would assist a diagnostic tool orservicer to identify relevant information to service an applianceidentified by the identifiers embedded within the message architecture.For example, information regarding the model number of the appliance,serial number of the appliance, manufacturer or manufacturing locationof the appliance could all be relevant information to determine whetherthere are service notes, recalls or other information valuable to adiagnostic tool or servicer to assist in servicing and repairing anappliance. Information regarding the value of the message architecturedescribed herein will be further described with respect to FIGS. 3-28A.

The messaging protocol and message architecture described herein also ispreferably flexible to enable the determination of whether a particularcomponent part, e.g., a circuit board, valve or other hardware componentinstalled within the appliance, is an original equipment part or areplacement part. For example, within the message architecture isdefined a “replacement part flag” that can be set to true at themanufacture of a part and that can then be set to false at the time thepart is installed on or in a new appliance to signify that the part isan original part of the appliance. A user can then check thisreplacement part flag in the field to determine the status of the part.If the flag is false, then the part is considered an original part. Ifthe flag is true, then the part is considered a replacement part and thediagnostic tool or servicer can take warranty issues into account ifunauthorized repairs were made to the appliance between the time ofmanufacture and the time of servicing. Another way to determine whethera part is a replacement part, or, alternatively, whether a part is anunauthorized part, would be to assign universally unique identifiers(UUIDs) to each component of an appliance and to store the UUIDs in adata store for subsequent checks. Replacement or unauthorized partscould then be identified by a lack of a UUID or if an associated UUID isnot present or authorized in the data store.

The messaging protocol and message architecture described herein is alsopreferably flexible to allow one part to query other interconnectedparts to find identifiers for other parts connected thereto, functioningsomewhat as a proxy within the messaging protocol and messagearchitecture. For example, it will be described herein that themessaging protocol and message architecture includes methods for gettingthe number of hardware components (referred to herein as physical parts)and/or getting the number of projects or software modules (referred toherein as virtual parts). Each of the physical parts and/or virtualparts of an appliance 12 is treated identically, and both typically havepart numbers, such as model numbers and serial numbers, within theappliance architecture. The messaging protocol and message architecturedescribed herein include get/set requests and publish responses by whichone virtual or physical part or a diagnostic tool can obtain informationsuch as identifiers relating to the virtual and/or physical parts thatare interconnected with a particular component and then iterate througheach of those virtual or physical parts and obtain part informationthrough the parent part.

The messaging protocol and message architecture described hereinincorporates messages needed for service and diagnostics of appliancesusing basic information such as an appliance model number and serialnumber, information on appliance software modules (referred to herein asvirtual parts), and information about physical parts or hardwareinstalled within a particular appliance (referred herein sometimes asboards). It will be understood that the messaging protocol and messagearchitecture described herein can be implemented in any number of wayswith any number of physical and/or virtual parts, which would beapparent to one skilled in the art, and the particular networking orcommunication protocols need not be specifically described to beapparent to one implementing the inventions described herein. Thephysical parts that are installed within an appliance can have somephysical parts connected to the internal network 14 or main bus withinthe appliance (e.g., direct smart parts 20, 22, 24 connected to theinternal network 14) and have other “indirect” parts that are indirectlyconnected to the internal network 14 or main bus through other physicalparts (e.g. indirect parts 48, 50, 52). The messaging protocol andmessage architecture described herein can obtain information iteratingthrough the tree of interconnected physical and virtual parts items toobtain information and communicate that information back to the internalnetwork 14 to respond to requests in any known manner. It will beunderstood that the virtual and/or physical parts do not need to bedirectly connected to the internal network 14 to be contemplated withinthe scope of this invention.

In connection with describing the message architecture, the terms “set”,“get” and “publish” are used throughout this description. “Set”typically refers to a “request” type command in which a user or avirtual or physical part, such as a diagnostic tool in the exemplaryform of accessory 16, makes a request to a particular component withinthe appliance 12 to set and/or store a particular value for a particularparameter of that component. “Get” also refers to any “request” typecommand in which a user or a virtual or physical part sends a request toa particular virtual or physical part to obtain information of valueassociated with a particular parameter for that component. “Publish”refers to a “response” type event in which the queried virtual orphysical part replies to one of the set or get type commands with aresponse, typically showing either a confirmation of the set commandand/or the particular queried information desired by the get command.

The message architecture described herein also contemplates variousexception-type responses. Responses of exceptions for set commands caninclude an error that the component is unable to store the particularsupplied data perhaps because non-volatile memory is not supported onthat particular physical component. A reply exception could be providedfor data already existing for that particular value from the set commandif the particular data to be set has already been previously written,and a response message may throw this exception as either a warning orrejection that data is about to be overwritten. Other exceptionstypically associated with a get command can include data not being foundthat was requested by the get command, in invalid identifier supplied bythe get command, and/or in invalid physical or virtual part identifier.These exceptions are contained and contemplated within the messagearchitecture to ensure that requests and responses are valid among thecomponents within the appliance.

The various modules contemplated by the message architecture describedherein are set forth below and with respect to FIGS. 3-28A. The variousinformation that is queryable and that can be provided within themessage architecture described herein are summarized below in Table 1,with a reference to which of FIGS. 3-28A have specific reference to theparticular module. In some cases, a particular figure can be suitablefor both “set” and “publish” commands and events, respectively, so aseparate figure for each may not be necessary since the samearchitecture can be used for either.

TABLE 1 Summary of Message Architecture Modules Message ArchitectureModule Figure(s) Set Appliance Model Number 3, 4 Get Appliance ModelNumber 3 Publish Appliance Model Number 3, 5 Set Appliance Serial Number3, 6-7 Get Appliance Serial Number 3 Publish Appliance Serial Number 3,8-9 Get Number Of Physical Parts 10, 11 Publish Number Of Physical Parts10, 11 Set Physical Part Model Number 10, 12-13 Set Physical Part SerialNumber 10, 14 Get Physical Part Information 10, 15 Publish Physical PartInformation 10, 16-17 Get Number Of Virtual Parts 18, 19 Publish NumberOf Virtual Parts 18, 20 Get Virtual Part Name 18, 21 Publish VirtualPart Name 18, 22 Get Virtual Part Release Information 18, 23 PublishVirtual Part Release Information 18, 24-25 Get Virtual Part Version 18,26 Publish Virtual Part Version 18, 27 Set Replacement Part Flag 18, 28,28A

The description below refers to each command of Table 1, generally, withspecific reference to a figure or figures, and with specific referenceto one or more bytes making up the payload of the particular modulediscussed. It will be understood that a particular module can comprise afunction, method, property or any other suitable hardware or software(i.e., physical or virtual part) executable item without departing fromthe scope of this invention and the particular language or protocol usedto implement the message architecture described herein shall not belimiting on the scope of this invention as well.

Turning now to FIG. 3, the collaboration or exchange by message betweena message generator 130 and direct smart part 20,22, 24 are shown byexample where A, B, C, and D correspond to typical message exchanges orrequest-response message pairs. It will be understood that additional orfewer commands can be provided between the message generator 130 and thesmart part 20, 22, 24 without departing from the scope of thisinvention. Each of the exchanges shown in FIG. 3 is illustrated ineither set-publish or get-publish pairs as will be apparent to oneskilled in the art that, in each case, either a set or a get messageissued by the message generator 130 is responded to by the smart part20, 22, 24 by an appropriate publish event.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, a set appliance model number message 140is responded to with a publish appliance model number message 142, a getappliance model number message 144 is responded to with a publishappliance model number message 142, a set appliance serial numbermessage 146 is responded to with a publish appliance serial numbermessage 148, and a get appliance serial number message 150 is replied towith a publish appliance serial number message 148. It will be notedthat each of the get and set commands 140, 144, 146 and 150 are repliedto with a similar publish message 142 and 148, respectively. Althoughthese common publish responses 142 and 148 are shown by example, it willbe understood that unique publish events can be provided for each of themessages without departing from the scope of this invention.

The various embodiments of the message architecture will now bedescribed with respect to the byte maps of the payload for the messagingstructures of FIGS. 4-9, 11-17 and 19-28. In each of these Figures, anexample messaging structure according to the invention is shown,comprising a number of bytes, with each byte or series of bytes having atextual description associated therewith. It will be understood that theoverall length of the particular byte maps, or the length in bytes ofsome described portion or subset of the bytes in each of FIGS. 4-9,11-17 and 19-28 can be longer and/or shorter without departing from thescope of this invention.

Turning now to FIG. 4, a byte map 500 is shown corresponding to the setappliance model number message 140 as set forth in FIG. 3. The byte map500 corresponding to this command includes a first identifier 502 and asecond identifier 504. In the example byte map 500 shown in theillustration of FIG. 4, the first identifier 502 corresponds to bytezero in the byte map 500 and defines or identifies the form of thesecond identifier 504. The first identifier 502, comprising theappliance model number length identifier, then corresponds in bytes tothe length of the second identifier 504. The second identifier 504therefore comprises an appliance model number description made up of thenumber of bytes set forth in the first identifier 502.

The message 140 is used to store the appliance model number inpersistent memory associated with a physical part such as a circuitboard or controller that the message 140 is sent to. Message 140 can besent to multiple physical parts within the appliance in order to haveredundant copies provided thereon, for example, in case of a failure ofone of the physical parts to which the message 140 was sent. The firstidentifier 502 allows for model numbers of varying lengths to beprovided to a particular physical part. Therefore, all bytes making upthe second identifier 504 (fifteen in the example shown in FIG. 4), maynot be used if the first identifier 502, the appliance model numberlength, is less than the length of the second identifier 504, anypost-pending bytes following the length of the second identifier 504would simply be ignored. In the example shown in FIG. 3, a successfulissuance of the set appliance model number message 140 shown in FIG. 4would result in the queried physical part responding with the publishappliance model number message 142, an example of which is shown in FIG.5. In addition, the publish appliance model number message 142 couldalso be provided by the queried physical part in response to a getappliance model number message 144 as set forth in FIG. 3. It will beunderstood that the appliance model number length identifier 502 canalternatively be an appliance model number type identifier or any otheridentifier used to uniquely identify the appliance or part.

Turning to FIG. 5, an example of the publish appliance model numbermessage 142 is shown. Although by example, the message architecture forthe publish appliance model number message 142 is the same as that setforth in the set appliance model number message 140 structure 500 shownin FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 5, the byte map 506 is shown which, by theexample shown in FIG. 5, comprises a first identifier 508 and a secondidentifier 510. The first identifier 508 corresponds to the length inbytes of the requested appliance model number and the second identifier510 then corresponds to a series of bytes with the particular appliancemodel number carried thereon.

Turning to FIG. 6, a byte map 512, or portion thereof, is set forth inFIG. 6 which includes a first identifier 514 and a second identifier 516which comprises a series of bytes which can be related to the content ofthe first identifier 514. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the firstidentifier 514 comprises an appliance serial number format which, in theexample shown in FIG. 6, comprises a single byte having data which thencauses the second identifier to “fork” or take on a meaningcorresponding to the first identifier 514. These various forks are shownby the four potential byte maps 516 for the appliance serial numbercontained within the payload of the second identifier 516 shown in FIG.7.

Further referring to FIG. 7, the specific format of forking element 516is selected from, in this example, four possibilities, each shown as 516and beginning at byte 1. Byte 0 relates to the first identifier 514whose value 518 determines which of the formats of the forking element516 will be used in the message definition. In summary, in this example,the value of byte 0 is selected from four possible values 518, and themeaning of the remaining bytes 516 beginning at byte 1 is determined bythe value of byte 0.

An example of the variations permitted by the message architectureexample shown in FIG. 6 with the set appliance serial number message 146is shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 7 contains a 10-byte example payload for fourdifferent examples of the conditional data carried by the secondidentifier 516 based on the content of the first identifier 514.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, four different country-related serialnumber formats are shown and it is contemplated that the messagearchitecture shown in the example of FIG. 6 can conditionally relateeach of the four different serial number formats shown in the secondidentifier 516 based upon the content of the first identifier 514 forthese different countries: Country A, Country A′ (Country A Outsourced),Country B and Country C. The countries are referred to generally withreference numeral 518.

As can be seen from reviewing the example of FIG. 7, depending upon thevalue 518 corresponding to the serial number format for either CountryA, Country A′, Country B or Country C in the first identifier 514, thepayload for the second identifier 516 can have various series of bytescontaining different information and the networking protocol willunderstand that a serial number will be provided in a certain formatwith respect to the second identifier 516 depending upon the value 518of the first identifier 514.

For example, in the illustrative example shown in FIG. 7, byte 0contains a value 518 of the first identifier 514 relating to aparticular serial number format, and the remainder of the ten bytesbeginning at byte 1 shown in FIG. 7 contain the second identifier 516having a value of the serial number corresponding to the formatprescribed by the format identifier which is the first identifier 514having a value 518 selected from values corresponding to Country A,Country A′, Country B and Country C. The different information can beprovided in different bytes depending upon the value 518 of the firstidentifier 514. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the serial numberformats for countries A, B, and C all have a common serial number formatbut the serial number format for Country A′ is slightly different inthat byte one contains an appliance source code which shifts by one byteits containing information relating to appliance source location, year,week and a suffix to the right making the appliance or number format forCountry A′ ten bytes long when the serial number formats for CountriesA, B, and C are nine bytes long according to the example shown in FIG.7. It will be understood that all of the individual message elements ineach forking element combine to comprise the appliance serial number.Further the number of possible formats identifiable or usable for eachforking element is defined by the number of bytes of the format typeidentifier and depends on the number of bytes used for the identifier.In the example since the serial number format 514 uses only one byte,there can be up to 255 formats.

Referring now to FIGS. 8-9, an example byte map is shown for the messagestructure for the publish appliance serial number message 148 as wasdiscussed with respect to FIG. 3. In addition, various examples of aforking element for the appliance serial number are shown in FIG. 9 witha common example which was previously discussed with respect to FIG. 7.In the examples shown in FIGS. 8-9, the byte map of FIGS. 8-9 has acommon structure with respect to that shown with respect to the setappliance serial number message 146 and, therefore, like elements arereferred to with common reference numbers between FIGS. 6-7 and FIGS.8-9.

Of course, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that adiffering-size or -format second identifier 516 based upon datacontained in the first identifier 514 could be employed withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention. The byte map shown in FIGS.6-9 are used to set, store and retrieve the appliance serial number inor from the persistent memory of a particular physical part, such ascircuit board or controller, to which the message 146 or 148 is sent to,received from, or associated with. This message can also be sent tomultiple controllers on the communications network 10 in order to haveredundant copies stored in particular controller so that, in the case ofa failure of one controller, the data regarding the appliance serialnumber is saved on other controllers on the network.

The flexible byte/payload arrangement between the first identifier 514and the second identifier 516 are, in the example shown in FIGS. 7 and9, for various country arrangements 518. The message architecture isflexible and can allow for accommodation of various serial numberstrategies based upon regional locations, manufacturing locations andthe like. This flexible messaging format allows a serial number informat not to be required to rely on a global standard and can simplyfill the second identifier 516 with the serial number of the lengthcorresponding to the data carried by the first identifier 514. The firstidentifier 514 can be considered an enumerator which can select any ofthe number of serial number formats to accommodate for variations withinan organization's or a regional entity serial number and formats.

Turning now to FIG. 10, the collaboration or exchange by message betweenmessage generator 130 and direct smart part 20, 22, 24 are shown byexample where E, F, G and H correspond to typical message exchanges orrequest-response message pairs. It will be understood that additional orfewer commands can be provided between the message generator 130 and thesmart part 20, 22, 24 without departing from the scope of thisinvention. The description of the operation of the message architectureset forth in FIG. 10 is generally the same as that described withrespect to FIG. 3 and a commensurate description is not provided againhere. In the example shown in FIG. 10, a get number of physical partsmessage 200 is responded to with a publish number of physical partsmessage 202, set physical part model number message 204 is responded towith a publish physical part model number message 206, a set physicalpart serial model number message 208 is responded to with a publishphysical part serial model number message 206, and a get physical partinformation message 210 is replied to with a publish physical partinformation message 206. It will be noted that, like with thedescription provided with FIG. 3, each of the get and set commands 200,204, 208 and 210 are replied to with a similar publish message 202 and206, respectively. Although these common publish responses 202 and 206are shown by example, it will be understood that unique publish eventscan be provided for each of the messages without departing from thescope of this invention.

Turning now to FIG. 11, an example of a byte map 524 of the publishnumber of physical parts message 202 as described with respect to FIG.10 is shown. The byte map 520 comprises a single identifier, and theexample shown in FIG. 11, referred to with reference numeral 522 whichcontains simply the number of physical parts associated with the directsmart part that is sending message 202 in response to message 200. Inone example, a circuit board 22 to which the message 202 is sent wouldrespond with 3 wherein the 3 includes 22, 48, and 50. In accordance withthe invention, and as described with respect to FIG. 10, the publishnumber of physical parts message 202 is an event which is issued as aresponse to the get number of physical parts message 200 described withrespect to FIG. 10.

The get number of physical parts message 200 allows nodes or directsmart parts connected to internal network 14 to report information forother physical parts not connected directly to internal network 14 butconnected indirectly via a direct or indirect connection to one of thenodes/direct smart parts. Typically, the return value for the get numberof physical parts message 200 can be “1” which indicates that theparticular smart part being queried is only reporting its owncontroller/part data. However, it is possible, through other direct orindirect network connections other than the network on which thesemessages are sent, i.e., the internal network 14, that a smart part/nodecould essentially act as a proxy for other physical parts to which it isconnected. In this case, the number provided by the publish number ofphysical parts message 202 will be greater than “1” and will correspondto the current node/smart part being queried as well as all of the otherphysical parts connected thereto. For example, referring to FIG. 1,smart part 22 would return the value “3”, and smart part 24 might returnthe value “2” to a publish number of physical parts message as shown inFIG. 11.

Turning to FIG. 12, a byte map 524 for the set physical part modelnumber message 204 discussed with respect to FIG. 10 is shown comprisinga first identifier 526 and a second identifier 528. In the example shownin FIG. 12, the first identifier 526 comprises only location byte zerowhich comprises a physical part model number format which then definesan enumerator to define the payload for the second identifier 528. Thesecond identifier 528 is described in FIG. 12 is a forking element forthe physical part model number format which could be any number ofphysical part model number formats depending upon the data provided withrespect to the first identifier 526. An example of the forking elementfor the physical part model number format comprising the secondidentifier 528 in FIG. 12 is shown with respect to FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 shows various embodiments of the second identifier 528 of thebyte map 524 discussed with respect to FIG. 12. In the example shown inFIG. 13, two different physical part model number formats are shownwhich are referred to with an identifier to the left of byte zero foreach of the second identifiers 528 as type A and type B and referred towith reference numerals 530 and 532, respectively.

While each of the physical part model number formats are shown ascomprising twelve bytes, it will be understood that additional or fewerbytes could make up the payload for the second identifier 528 based uponthe data contained in the physical part model number format identifiershown as the first identifier 526 in the byte map 524 in the exampleshown in FIG. 13. It will be understood that additional physical partmodel number formats can be provided of varying lengths by simplydefining additional enumerators for the physical part model numberformat first identifier 526 for the byte map 524 in the example shown inFIG. 13. Moreover, the construction and content of the second identifier528 may vary to accommodate various part types, various part suppliers,and various part functionalities.

The set physical part model number message 204 with the example byte map524 shown in FIG. 12 is used to store data such as the part model numberon the persistent memory of a physical part, such as a circuit board orcontroller. Turning to FIG. 14, an example byte map 533 relating to theset physical part serial number message 208 for setting particular dataregarding a physical part serial number and additional part informationis shown by example. In the example shown in FIG. 14, a first identifier534 is provided which defines a revision code for the particularphysical part. In addition to the revision identifier shown in shown byreference 534, the byte map 533 shown in FIG. 14 can also haveinformation comprising one or more bytes relating to a physical partsource 536 (e.g. a manufacturer), a physical part source location 538,and one or more bytes comprising a physical part serial number shown byan additional identifier 540 which extends thirteen bytes in the exampleshown in FIG. 14.

At the end of the byte map 533 shown in FIG. 14 is a replacement partflag 542 which is preferably a Boolean variable which, when true,indicates that the physical part to which the set physical part serialnumber message 204 is sent is indeed a replacement part and, when false,the replacement part flag 542 indicates that the part was installed onthe appliance at the time of manufacturing the appliance as originalequipment (often referred to as OEM).

It will be understood that the set physical part model number message204 will typically be transmitted by a message generator 130 associatedwith a manufacturer of the appliance 12, while the set physical partserial number message 208 will typically be transmitted by a messagegenerator 130 associated with a manufacturer of the physical part at adifferent time and/or location than the set physical part model numbermessage 204 is transmitted. This enables both the manufacturer of thepart and the manufacturer of the appliance to associate information withthe part separately. One benefit of this is that the manufacturer of thephysical part can associate information with the physical part thatcorresponds to information in a database associated with themanufacturer of the physical part, while the manufacturer of theappliance can associate information with the physical part thatcorresponds to information in a database associated with themanufacturer of the appliance.

The byte maps 524 and 533, shown with respect to FIGS. 12-14, can beused to exchange by message the aforementioned information/data such asa physical part model number and a serial number on a physical part thatcan be retrieved at the same time by a get physical part informationmessage 210 as discussed with respect to FIG. 10. An example byte map550 is shown in FIG. 15 embodies the get physical part informationmessage 210. Get physical part information message 210 is sent for eachphysical part from 1 to i, where “i” is the number returned in thepublish number of physical parts message 200 described with respect toFIG. 10 and FIG. 11. Physical part number 552 is the index or currentvalue of the loop count corresponding to the physical part from 1 to i.Get physical part information message 210 results in a publish physicalpart information message 206.

Turning to FIG. 16, an example byte map 560 is shown corresponding tothe publish physical part information message 206 discussed with respectto FIG. 10. It will be understood that the thirty-four byte map 560shown in FIG. 16 corresponds to a compilation of the byte maps 524 and533 discussed with respect to FIGS. 12-14. The byte map 533 is appendedto the byte map 524 to form the byte map 560 discussed with respect toFIG. 16. FIGS. 12-14 thus have a common structure with respect to thatshown in FIGS. 16 and 17, and, therefore, like elements are referred towith common reference numbers between FIGS. 12-14 and FIGS. 16-17.

Therefore, it will be apparent that FIG. 16 comprises a first identifier562 relating to an identifier of the physical part number, which is theindex or current value of the loop count corresponding to the physicalpart from 1 to i, a second identifier 526 corresponding to a particularphysical part number format, a third identifier 528 having a formatcorresponding to the second identifier comprising a series of bytesrepresenting the physical part model number such as that examplediscussed with respect to FIG. 13, a fourth identifier 534 relating tothe physical part generation or revision information. Additionalidentifiers include an identifier of a physical part source 536, anidentifier for the physical part source location 536 and, a series ofbytes relating to the physical part serial number 540, and finallyterminating with the replacement part flag 542 discussed with respect toFIG. 14.

An example of the forking element for the physical part model number 528discussed with respect to the byte map 560 in FIG. 16, is shown in FIG.17 with reference numerals 530 and 532 as a physical part model numberformat types A and B, respectively. It can be seen that the exampleforking element for the physical part model number shown in FIG. 17 issimilar in nature to the forking element for the physical part modelnumber shown by example in FIG. 13 and the detailed description of whichapplies equally here and is not set forth again.

Turning now to FIG. 18, the collaboration or exchange by message betweena message generator 130 and direct smart part 20, 22, 24 are shown byexample where I, J, K, L and M correspond to typical message exchangesor request-response message pairs. It will be understood that additionalor fewer commands can be provided between the message generator 130 andthe smart part 20, 22, 24 without departing from the scope of thisinvention. The description of the operation of the message architectureset forth in FIG. 18 is generally the same as that described withrespect to FIGS. 3 and 10 and a commensurate description is not providedagain here. In the example shown in FIG. 18, a get number of virtualparts message 240 is responded to with a publish number of virtual partsmessage 242, a get virtual part name message 244 is responded to with apublish virtual part name message 246, a get virtual part releaseinformation message 248 is responded to with a publish virtual partrelease information message 250, a get virtual part version message 252is replied to with a publish virtual part version message 254, and anoptional set replacement part flag message 256 is shown being issued tothe smart part 20, 22, 24. It will be noted that, contrary to thedescription provided with FIGS. 3 and 10, each of the get and setcommands 240, 244, 248, and 252 are replied to with a correspondingunique publish message 242, 246, 250, and 254, respectively. Althoughthese publish responses 242, 246, 250, and 254 are shown by example, itwill be understood that common-byte-length publish events can beprovided for each of the messages without departing from the scope ofthis invention and a particular message content could simply be definedby a particular byte or flag associated with the set, get or publishresponse. It will also be understood that the set command 256 can simplybe a one-way issued command without a corresponding publish command, ora publish command showing the set value of the replacement part flagcould also be provided without departing from the scope of thisinvention. Additionally, publish messages 242, 246, 250, and 254 couldbe combined into a single informational message.

Turning to FIG. 19, an example byte map 576 for the get number ofvirtual parts message 240 discussed with respect to FIG. 18 is shown.While the discussion of FIGS. 10-17 related to various modules forsetting, getting and publishing various data regarding physical parts,such as hardware and/or circuit boards contained within the appliance,the discussion of FIGS. 18-28A relates to attaining informationregarding “virtual” parts within an appliance network such as softwaremodules, data modules, and the like. These software modules and datamodules are referred to herein as virtual parts in connection with thedescription for this application.

In the get number of virtual parts message 240 shown in FIG. 19, theonly argument is an identifier 578 which contains a physical part numberto which the virtual parts are to be reported. Referring again to theprevious description of the physical part number, the value ofidentifier 578 corresponds to the index or current value of the loopcount corresponding to the physical part 1 to i and is used in the samemanner for and for the same reasons in the messages of FIG. 20-28. Thiscommand allows a physical part to report multiple virtual parts basedupon the identifier 578 provided in the byte map 576 for the get numberof virtual parts message 240 shown in FIG. 19. This command can beuseful for physical parts with more than one microprocessor, EEPROM, orother non-volatile memory. The identifier 578 is an argument for the getnumber of virtual parts message 240 allowing a single controller orsmart part to act as a gateway for reporting other physical/virtual partinformation and other physical/virtual part information associated withother interconnected physical parts. This technique can cross multipleplatforms and cover multiple physical parts whether connected directlyor indirectly to the main appliance bus/internal network 14.

In response to the get number of virtual parts message 240 as discussedwith respect to FIG. 19, a publish number of virtual parts message 242is shown in FIG. 20. Byte map 580 has a first identifier 582corresponding to the physical part number (the same identifier as thefirst identifier 578 set forth in FIG. 19) and a second identifier 584comprising the response data corresponding to the number of virtualparts reported by the physical part having the physical part numberidentified by the first identifier 582. The number of virtual partssecond identifier 584 contains a number of virtual parts associated withthe physical part identified by the physical part number firstidentifier 582 discussed with respect to FIGS. 19-20. This message ispreferably sent any time the number of virtual projects on a physicalpart, such as a controller, changes or when any of the data about anexisting virtual part (such as revisions, part numbers etc.) changes orin response to message 240. It will be understood that the physical andvirtual parts can be treated identically in this manner with thephysical parts responding to the get, set and publish modules discussedwith respect to FIGS. 10-17 and the virtual parts responding to the get,set and publish modules discussed with respect to FIGS. 18-28A.

Turning to FIG. 21, a description of the get virtual part name message244 is shown comprising a byte map 586 having first identifier 588corresponding to a physical part number and a second identifier 590corresponding to a virtual part number. As previously discussed, bothidentifiers 588 and 590 are index counters, each from one of two nestedloops where the first identifier corresponds to the index or currentcount value of the outer (first) loop and the second identifiercorresponds to the index or current count of the inner (second) loop.Essentially, the byte map 586 allows the get virtual part name message244 to provide a physical part identifier as the first identifier 588and a virtual part identifier as the second identifier 590 issued to theparticular physical part identified by the first identifier 588 toreturn information regarding the virtual part number as shown by thesecond identifier 590. The get virtual part name message 244 is usefulsince often virtual part names are assigned at the creation of a virtualpart and can be used as an identifier in a source code integrity systemeven though a virtual part such as a software module eventually receivesa product part number the project name can be helpful for reference backto a particular source code version, or build number to accuratelyidentify the virtual part.

Turning to FIG. 22, the publish virtual part name message 246 is showncomprising a byte map 592 comprising a first identifier 594 whichcorresponds to the first identifier 588 in the get virtual part namemessage 244 and a virtual part number identifier 596 which correspondsto the virtual part number or identifier 590 discussed with respect toFIG. 21. In addition to the first and second identifiers 594 and 596,FIG. 22 discloses an additional identifier 598 which sets forth aone-to-n series of bytes which make up an identifier of the virtual partname that the publish virtual part name message 246 provides in responseto the get virtual part name message 244 discussed with respect to FIG.21. This allows any node, diagnostic tool, or servicer to obtaininformation regarding a particular virtual part by issuing the getvirtual part name message 244 and receiving in response the publishvirtual part name message 246 described with respect to FIG. 22.

In addition to the virtual part name message described with respect tothe get and publish virtual part name messages 244, 246 in FIGS. 21-22,the invention also contemplates the issuance of the get virtual partrelease information message 248 shown with respect to FIG. 23 andreceiving in response a publish virtual part release information message250 shown with respect to FIG. 24. Turning to FIG. 23, the get virtualpart release information message 248 is shown comprising a byte map 600having a physical part number first identifier 602 and a virtual partnumber second identifier 604 thereon. The physical part number firstidentifier 602 and the virtual part number second identifier 604correspond to the physical part number identifiers 578, 582, 588 and 594and the virtual part number 604 corresponds to the virtual part number590 and 596, respectively, discussed with respect to FIGS. 19-22. Withthe first identifier 602 and the second identifier 604, the get virtualpart release information message 248 can pass an argument identifying aparticular physical part, i.e., a hardware component or controller, anda particular virtual part, i.e., a software module or data module,located on that particular physical part.

In response to the get virtual part release information message 248discussed with respect to FIG. 23, the publish virtual part releaseinformation message 250 is issued and is discussed in this applicationwith respect to FIG. 24. FIG. 24 shows the publish virtual part releaseinformation message 250 comprising a byte map 606 having a firstidentifier 608 and a second identifier 610 wherein the first identifier608 corresponds in reflection to the physical part number identifier 602and the second identifier 610 corresponds to the virtual part numbersecond identifier 604 passed by the get virtual part release informationmessage 248.

The remainder of the byte map 606 following the first and secondidentifier 608 and 610 comprises an additional identifier 612 relatingto a virtual part model number format enumerator. The virtual partnumber model number format enumerator 612 relates to a forking element614 identifier which comprises a series of bytes to identify aparticular virtual part model number based upon the data provided by thevirtual part model number format enumerator 612. The forking element forthe virtual part model number 614 can comprise a series of bytes, orbyte shown in the example of FIG. 24, followed by a pair of bytescomprising an identifier 616 which contains the year of release for thevirtual part number and, again, followed sequentially by a series ofbytes 618 and 620 which correspond respectively to the month of releaseand day of release of the particular virtual part provided in thepublish virtual part release information message 250 described withrespect to FIG. 24.

An example of the forking element 614 shown in FIG. 24 with respect tothe virtual part number model number format is shown by example in FIG.25 for two different types of virtual part model number formats: type Ashown with reference numeral 622 and type B shown with reference numeral624, respectively. It will be understood that the virtual part modelnumber format type A 622 and type B 624 can be any number of bytescorresponding to, or different than, the twelve bytes shown by examplein FIG. 25 with byte zero being the enumerator to identify theparticular virtual part model number format. This example in FIG. 25 issimilar to the forking elements described with respect to previousdrawings and will not be described in greater detail here.

Turning to FIG. 26, an example byte map 626 is provided for the getvirtual part version message 252 discussed with respect to FIG. 18. Inthe byte map 626 shown in FIG. 26, a first identifier corresponding tothe physical part number is provided and shown with reference numeral628 and a second identifier 630 is provided which corresponds to theparticular virtual part number desired to obtain the virtual partversion message 252 for the physical part corresponding to the firstidentifier 628. This message is useful to obtain the particular virtualpart version that is installed on a particular physical part using theget virtual part version message 252.

In response to the get virtual part version message 252, a publishvirtual part version message 254 is provided in response and discussedwith respect to FIG. 27. FIG. 27 shows a byte map 632 which has a firstidentifier 634 and a second identifier 636 corresponding in reflectionto the first and second identifiers 628 and 630 which were passed by theget virtual part version message 252 and discussed with respect to FIG.26.

In FIG. 27, the byte map 632 has a series of bytes following the firstand second identifiers 634 and 636 which correspond to exemplary andillustrative information regarding the virtual part version informationpublished by the publish virtual part version message 254. In theexample shown in FIG. 27, three examples of informational bytes areprovided having reference numerals 638, 640 and 642 which correspond tomajor, minor and test version numbers for the particular virtual partidentified by virtual part number 636 on physical part corresponding toidentifier 634.

It will be understood that while three bytes are shown for the major,minor and test part version information 638, 640 and 642, additional orfewer version number information can be provided without departing fromthe scope of this invention. It would be understood that the publishvirtual part version message 254 is in response to the get virtual partversion message 252 and contains version information about theparticular virtual part on a given physical part. For example the major,minor and test version number information 638, 640 and 642 couldcorrespond to normal software version numbering conventions such as0.0.0, 0.1.0, 0.2.3 etc. In addition, checkpointing and other filenaming conventions can also be used without departing from the scope ofthis invention. Preferably, the version numbers can range from zero tosome maximum number such as 999. As is well known for versioninformation on software development, whenever normal versions of thesoftware is distributed, that an increase in the major version numbertypically causes a reversion in the minor and/or test numbers back tozero and those begin incrementally again.

In any event, the particular numbering system for virtual part versionswould be apparent to one skilled in the art, and different oralternative virtual part version numbering schemes should not beinterpreted as being limiting on the scope of this invention. In anycase, the messaging exchanges and associated information regardingvirtual parts described in FIG. 18-27 would allow for the completetraceability of virtual parts back to a virtual part repository such asa version integrity system.

Turning to FIG. 28, the set replacement part flag message 256 isdiscussed with respect to FIG. 28 and has been discussed with previousfigures as well. The example byte map 644 shown in FIG. 28 for thereplacement part flag message 256 comprises a single identifier 646which preferably contains a Boolean value for the replacement part flagas shown in FIG. 28. When true, the particular physical part to whichthe set replacement part flag message 256 is sent indicates that theparticular physical part is indeed a replacement part and appropriatemodifications to warranty provisions and the like can be made by theaccessory 16 to account for potential of unauthorized parts beinginstalled on the appliance. Alternatively, when false, the replacementpart flag indicates that the particular physical part installed withinthe appliance network is an original equipment component andconsiderations can be made to warranty provisions and the like basedupon the original equipment store meaning in the appliance. In anotherpossible embodiment not shown herein, byte map 644 could further includean additional byte containing physical part number so that indirectparts could have their replacement part flag set or reset by message.

FIG. 28A shows an example method of the use of the replacement part flag646 shown with respect to the set replacement part flag message 256 inFIG. 28. In FIG. 28A, the physical part replacement part flag 646 is setto true at step 648 in FIG. 28A. At step 650, the particular physicalpart, still with its replacement part flag set to true is installed intoan appliance at an original equipment location. At step 652, at the endof a factory line testing procedure, the replacement part flag is set tofalse using the set replacement part flag message 256 described withrespect to FIGS. 18 and 28. At this point the newly-manufacturedappliance leaves the factory with the set replacement part flag messageset to false for any suitable physical parts within the appliance,indicating that the physical parts are indeed original equipmentcomponents leaving the factory in a new appliance. Then a break is shownat step 654 at which point the lifecycle of the appliance is unknownuntil a servicing event in the field occurs which is shown by step 656.A diagnostic tool or servicer in the form of accessory 16 can make aquery to get the replacement part flag message for the various physicalparts within the appliance and determine if the replacement flag messageis true. This query can comprise a message generator 130 of theaccessory 16 issuing the get physical part information message 210. Ifso, then the particular physical part being queried is determined to bea replacement part and appropriate warranty considerations can be made.All this is shown at step 658 and 660 in FIG. 28A. Alternatively, if thereplacement part flag message is set to false at step 662 indicatingthat the replacement part flag has not been changed since itsmanufacture and setting to false at the factory at step 652, thediagnostic tool or servicer in the form of accessory 16 may understandthat the part is still an OEM part, such as that shown at 664, and makeappropriate warranty repair considerations based upon this information.

Diagnosis and Servicing an Appliance

The foregoing messaging protocol and message architecture can beeffectively used to diagnose and service an appliance. Appliances areoften diagnosed and serviced using a fault tree. A typical fault tree400 of the type contemplated by the present invention is shown in FIG.30. The fault tree 400 is characterized by an ordered collection ofsteps with transitions between the steps. The initial step of anappliance fault tree will normally be associated with a symptom offailure in the appliance. Each step of a fault tree, including theinitial step will have associated actions. Actions are things thatshould be done in the step. Exemplary actions include, but are notlimited to, taking measurements, asking questions, requesting userinput, describing observations and the like. Transitions will be pathsto other steps that are normally conditional on the result of a givenstep. The exemplary fault tree 400 commences with an initial step Awhich might be associated with a particular symptom of the appliance.For example, if the symptom were “motor does not work”, an initial stepA might be “check to see if there is power to the motor.”

The fault tree 400 might have two possible transitions 402, 404 fromstep A, each leading to another step B and C, respectively. Whichtransition occurs may depend on the outcome of step A. Continuing withthe foregoing hypothetical, if the answer to step A is “no”, thentransition 402 will lead to step B which might be “see if the applianceis plugged in.” If the appliance were not plugged in, but doing soactuates the motor, then step B results in a solution and the diagnosisis complete. If the answer to step A is “yes”, then the transition 404will lead to step C which might be “measure the voltage at the motor.”The answer to step C may lead to several different steps D, E, or F viacorresponding transitions. For example, Step D may be taken if therewere no voltage, step C taken if the voltage is within a first specifiedrange, and step D if the voltage is within a second specified range.Traversing the fault tree 400 will continue until all possible diagnosesare evaluated.

Looking now at FIG. 31, it may be that a given appliance will have morethan one fault tree associated with it. For example, there may be afault tree associated with different components or different subsystemsin the appliance. Or there may be different fault trees associated withaccessories connected to the appliance. In FIG. 31, there are threefault trees 410, 412, and 414. Each fault tree has an initial step Athat would normally serve as the starting point for entry into therespective fault tree. It may be, and often is the case, that any givenfault tree for an appliance might have multiple entry points. In FIG.31, for example, there is a plurality of entry points, including theinitial step A and a second initial step 416. Further, a transition isnot limited to transitioning to a sequential step within the same faulttree. For example, a transition from step 416 on fault tree 410 may leadto step 418 on another fault tree 414.

Looking now at FIG. 32, one aspect of the invention is shown. Imagine agiven appliance configured to perform a cycle of operation on anarticle. The appliance will typically have multiple components, and anumber of fault trees 420, 422, 424, 426, 428 will have been establishedfor diagnosing the appliance and its components. Assume further that theappliance has an internal communications network of the type describedin FIG. 1 and is fully configured to use a suitable messaging capabilitysuch as the messaging protocol and message architecture described above.A system in communication with the appliance, and especially using themessaging protocol and message architecture described above, can obtaininformation about the components associated with the appliance. Based onthat information, the system can select a subset 430 of the establishedfault trees and dynamically aggregate the subset to create a customizedfault tree 440 having its own initial step 450.

The beauty of the messaging protocol and message architecture describedabove is that the information can be obtained knowing only theidentifiers that are provided in a communication. Thus, information caninclude at least one identifier associated with a component. Theidentifier can represent, for example, a class, a type, or an instanceof the component. He information can include such things as of serialnumber, model number, component information, manufacturer, supplier,location, cross reference, time of manufacture, date of manufacture,location of manufacture, a software module, a functionality identifier,replacement part, original part, and software module version, softwareversion, attributes of a particular component, attributes of particularmaterial used in a component, attributes of a component type, attributesof material type used in a component, information associating materialor component with a ‘lot’ or batch, information associating material orcomponents with time, a location, or cost, or replacement information,or any other information that can be included in the data modules 110 asdescribed previously. It could also include error codes, fault codes,part identifiers, defects based on part identifiers, and userdescriptions and terms derived from user descriptions.

In the latter case, response to user inquires can be inputted to thesystem via a user interface in the appliance or in an accessory coupledto the appliance. In some case, surveying a user to obtain informationabout components associated with the appliance can be become animportant step in a method of customizing a fault tree for an appliance

Thus, the method of customization of a fault tree for an appliance canbe conducted in a service accessory connected to the appliance, such asthe service accessory 16 of FIG. 1. An acceptable service accessory caninclude such things as a PC, a local data collector, or a central datacollector. Of course, as discussed with respect to FIG. 1, the appliancecan be the component or it can comprise at least one component.

It will be understood that the foregoing method can result in aplurality of customized fault trees for a number of differentappliances. Applying the same method can include selecting one faulttree from the plurality. In this way, a given appliance can then bediagnosed and/or serviced using the selected fault tree.

Both FIGS. 31 and 32 illustrate a second aspect of the invention. Inboth figures, it will be apparent that steps 416, 418 are not at the topof their respective fault trees, and therefore are not the first initialstep where one would ordinarily commence traversal of the fault tree.According to the second aspect of the invention, the time for diagnosisof an appliance can be expedited if a best or optimal initial step canbe ascertained so that the fault tree need not always be commenced atthe top.

Looking now at FIG. 29, a method 300 of accomplishing both the first andsecond aspects of the invention is illustrated. In other words, anappliance can be diagnosed and perhaps serviced, based on informationgleaned from the appliance and its components. The method commences withsome fault 302 occurring in a given appliance. It is assumed that theappliance is configured to communicate by electronic message, andpreferably using the messaging protocol and message architecturedescribed above. Information about the components associated with theappliance is obtained via electronic messages at 304. Symptoms of thefault are identified at 306. Symptoms can be identified from an errorcode such as an identifier in a special network message or stored inmemory, or a fault code as a displayed message with an identifier. Errorcodes and fault codes represent faults that occur in the appliance andcan be automatically generated or initiated by any suitable means andcommunicated over the appliance network. Error codes are oftenconsidered a subset of fault codes and are often unique to a givenappliance. Multiple error codes can be associated with a single faultcode. Error codes and fault codes are sometime displayed on a userinterface, as well as communicated over the appliance network. Symptomscan also be identified from user input. In this case, the selection,biasing aggregation, and/or customization of the fault tree(s) can beaccomplished by software configured to accept raw user input via voiceor text and resolve that input to a set of known symptoms, which is thenused to select, bias, aggregate, and/or customize the fault tree(s) Anysort of defect as a function of a component identifier can also be asymptom. For example, a known defect stored in a database associatedwith a given identifier might be a symptom for purposes of a fault treeanalysis. Regardless of how symptoms are identified, the symptoms orinformation used to ascertain symptoms can be part of the informationabout the components that is communicated from the appliance.

In one example, a batch of bad resistors was used in the manufacturingof a particular type of smart part for a one-week period in twodifferent manufacturing locations. The particular type of smart partmanufactured with the bad resistors during this time also has threeassociated physical part model numbers. Once this information is knownand stored in a database, one of ordinary skill in the art canunderstand how the messaging protocol and message architecture can beused to provide the necessary identification capabilities andinformation to query the database to find out if an appliance havingthis particular type of smart part has one of the smart parts with badresistors. For example, the physical part model number of the smart partin the appliance can be compared to the three physical part modelnumbers in the database associated with the bad resistor smart parts.With this type of informational continuity and traceability, the time toascertain the root cause of a problem or fault can be greatly diminishedwhen compared to a manual process of physical teardown andcomponent/subcomponent manual inspection.

Once a symptom is identified, one of two steps will occur. At 308 arelevant fault tree associated with the appliance and/or the componentswill be identified, or a plurality of relevant fault trees will beidentified at 309. Once a relevant fault tree is established at 308, andbased on the information about the components, including the symptoms,the best or most optimal initial step in the fault tree is ascertainedat 310. In other words, the method biases the entry point in the faulttree based on the information.

If, on the other hand, a plurality of relevant fault trees is identifiedat 309, the best or most optimal subset of fault trees based on theinformation about the components, including the symptoms, is selected at311. The subset is then dynamically aggregated to create a customizedfault tree at 312, preferably with an optimal initial step determinedfor the entry point as apart of the aggregation.

Once the optimal initial step is determined, the method commencestraversing the fault tree by following the ordered collection of stepsfrom the initial step at 314. It will be understood that with a biasedentry point into a known fault tree, following the steps to a solutioncan be expedited without having to traverse the entire fault tree.Similarly, customizing a fault tree according to the method can resultin fewer steps that can likewise result in expedited diagnosis.Typically, each step will be associated with a query at 316 of whetherthe step resulted in a solution. If the answer is “no” then a transitionat 318 directs the traversal to another step, which can be a next step320 in the same fault tree, or a new entry point 322 in the same faulttree, or a new entry point in a different fault tree 324. The subsequentstep, wherever it may occur, will typically result in another query 326about solution. The process continues until a solution is achieved.

While the invention has been specifically described in connection withcertain specific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that thisis by way of illustration and not of limitation, and the scope of theappended claims should be construed as broadly as the prior art willpermit.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method executed in an appliance connected to acommunications network, the appliance having at least one component anda controller to communicate information over the communications networkabout the at least one component, the method comprising: generating amessage comprising a message structure including a first identifier anda second identifier, wherein the message structure is used inconjunction with a messaging protocol to provide comprehensiveinformation about the appliance and the at least one component over thecommunications network; retrieving a value of the first identifiercorresponding to at least one first byte, wherein the first identifieridentifies the format of the second identifier and wherein the secondidentifier corresponds to at least one second byte, the value of whichprovides the comprehensive information about the at least one component;retrieving the value of the second identifier based on the formatidentified by the first identifier; and recognizing the comprehensiveinformation related to the at least one component based on the formatindicated by the first identifier and the value retrieved from thesecond identifier to manage the at least one component using theobtained comprehensive information.
 2. The method of claim 1 where thefirst identifier relates to one of an identifier of a location, acategory, a supplier, a manufacturer, a schema, a format, amanufacturing location, and a product type.
 3. The method of claim 1further comprising a third identifier wherein the third identifier is aunique identifier of an appliance from a universe of appliances.
 4. Themethod of claim 3 further comprising a fourth identifier wherein thefourth identifier is a unique identifier of a manufacturer of one of theappliance, and the at least one component.
 5. The method of claim 1wherein the at least one component comprises at least one of a printedcircuit board, a motor, an actuator, a valve, software, data, a printedcircuit board with a microprocessor, a software module for controlling amotor, a cycle engine for controlling the cycle of operation of anappliance, a data module containing data parameters about the motorallowing the software module to appropriately parameterize and configureitself for the control of the motor, a data module containing a cyclestructure for use by the cycle engine to control the cycle of operation,and a data module containing data for use by a user interface engine tocreate screens, screen content, and the navigation between screens, adata module containing media content.
 6. The method of claim 1 whereinat least one of the identifiers comprises at least two message elements,each message element having a unique meaning.
 7. The method of claim 1wherein the second identifier includes one of serial number, modelnumber, component information, manufacturer, supplier, location, crossreference, time of manufacture, date of manufacture, location ofmanufacture, a software module, a functionality identifier, replacementpart, original part, and a software module version.
 8. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the first identifier comprises one of length data,forking data, and format data.
 9. An appliance, comprising at least onecomponent and a processor configured to communicate information over acommunications network about the at least one component by generating amessage comprising a message structure including a first identifier anda second identifier, a value of the first identifier corresponding to atleast one first byte, the first identifier identifying the format of thesecond identifier and the second identifier corresponding to at leastone second byte, the value of which provides comprehensive informationabout the appliance and the at least one component, wherein the messagestructure is used in conjunction with a messaging protocol to providethe comprehensive information over the communications network; whereinnodes in the communications network retrieve the value of the firstidentifier; retrieve the value of the second identifier based on theformat identified by the first identifier; and recognize thecomprehensive information related to the at least one component based onthe format indicated by the first identifier and the value retrievedfrom the second identifier to manage the at least one component usingthe obtained comprehensive information.
 10. The appliance of claim 9wherein the communication includes a command that results in publicationof the information whereby the message structure enables traceability ofthe one of the appliance and the at least one component.